6 Essential Characteristics to Consider When Selecting a Central Reservation System

Are you tired of managing various booking channels independently and wish for a solution that seamlessly integrates them?

Perhaps your hotel already utilizes a robust Property Management System (PMS) for day-to-day tasks but lacks the connectivity and automation offered by a comprehensive Central Reservation System (CRS).

A CRS acts as the bridge between your property and online booking platforms, offering automation, connectivity, and revenue-boosting pricing strategies.

However, not all CRS platforms are created equal. To ensure maximum benefit, it’s crucial to identify the key qualities your CRS should possess.

This guide outlines six fundamental characteristics to guide your selection process, empowering you to choose a CRS that revolutionizes your reservation management:

User-Friendliness

Your CRS should be intuitive and easy for staff to navigate without extensive training.

Look for clear menus, intuitive navigation, and visual reports that provide quick insights into your hotel’s performance.

Integration Capabilities

Seamless integration with other hotel management systems like Property Management Systems (PMS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools is essential.

Integration ensures data consistency, prevents manual errors, and streamlines workflows.

Multi-Channel Distribution

A robust CRS should enable consistent room pricing across all distribution channels, prevent overbookings, and provide real-time inventory management.

Look for features that help maintain rate parity, update inventory dynamically, and analyze channel performance.

Avoid scenarios such as the one shown below, where one room price is displayed on Booking.com and Priceline, and other sites display a different one.

Revenue Management Features

Dynamic pricing capabilities are crucial for maximizing revenue.

Look for a CRS that offers flexible rate management, automates pricing changes based on factors like demand and seasonality, and provides insights to optimize revenue strategies.

For example, our own central reservation system, boasts a revenue management feature that allows you to set specific rules for price changes, as shown below.

Scalability

Your CRS should grow with your hotel, accommodating increased bookings and expanding property portfolios without compromising performance.

Some central reservation systems are designed with smaller hotels in mind, and if yours expands beyond their capacity, it could compromise functionality and performance.

For example, the system might slow down significantly under increased load, frustrating staff and guests alike.

Because of this, it’s important to check whether your software is scalable.

You can start by asking some of these key questions:

Ensure the system can handle spikes in demand, support multi-property growth, and offers scalable pricing options.

Reporting Options

Robust reporting and analytics features provide valuable insights into reservation trends, occupancy rates, revenue performance, and guest demographics.

For instance, let’s take the occupancy rate, a crucial metric that shows the health of your business.

By comparing occupancy rate changes across different months and against industry averages, you can see if your business strategies are effective or if adjustments are needed.

Alternatively, consider guest data.

Your customer insights can be one of your greatest assets.

Knowing your target audience allows you to tailor your marketing efforts, offers, and even hotel amenities to better suit their needs.

As a basic example, if your customer demographic data reveals that your guests are primarily families, you might create a kids’ play area or offer family-friendly packages to boost your appeal with this audience.

All of these analytics and reports need to be presented in a clear and user-friendly way, with helpful graphs and visual representations like the one below.

Look for user-friendly reporting tools that facilitate data-driven decision-making and drive business growth.

In conclusion

Selecting the right CRS is vital for streamlining operations, maximizing bookings, and making informed decisions that drive business success.

By prioritizing user-friendliness, integration capabilities, multi-channel distribution, revenue management features, scalability, and reporting options, you’ll find a CRS that transforms your reservation management processes and propels your hotel to new heights.